The Belt of Truth pt. 3

Greater Truth

Jeremiah 17:9 ““The heart is deceitful above all things, And desperately wicked; Who can know it?”

Why do we lie to ourselves?

1. It’s easier to believe the lie than it is the truth. We can’t see ourselves that way.

2. We don’t want to face the pain.

3. We don’t want to face our failures.

4. We don’t want to be different.

5. It’s all we’ve ever known.

6. It feels true.

7. It makes us feel better about ourselves. pride. Galatians 6:3 “For if anyone thinks himself to be something, when he is nothing, he deceives himself.”

8. It keeps you from having to be responsible and do what you are supposed to do.

9. We forget the truths we know

10. We believe what others say is truth for us.

How to tell if you are lying to yourself.

You don’t have peace.

You feel like you are running from something, but you aren’t sure what.

You are defensive.

You try to justify the bad actions of you or of your loved ones.

You resist the counsel of others.

Certain verses in the Bible make you uncomfortable so you skip over them.

Your emotions don’t match your words.

Your talk is big, but your walk is not.

You make extreme statements or ultimatums. “Men don’t care about anything but themselves.”

You feel like a fraud.

You are never wrong.

You experience strong emotions/triggered over something that really shouldn’t be that big.

You become different people depending on who you are with and what they expect of you.

14. Giving excuses for not using your gifts or stepping into what God is calling you to do.

Sometimes we lie to ourselves for so long that we actually start believing it as truth.

Sometimes it is easier to believe the lie about someone else rather than face the truth about ourself.

If you aren’t wearing the belt of truth, you walking exposed to the enemy wearing the lies that are beacons for his flaming arrows.

Sometimes we lie to ourselves because the lie originated in truth. Our failures. How we were treated. What others said about us. Even something the Bible says.

So how do we overcome a lie that isn’t a lie?

Matthew 4:5-7 “Then the devil took Him up into the holy city, set Him on the pinnacle of the temple, and said to Him, “If You are the Son of God, throw Yourself down. For it is written: ‘He shall give His angels charge over you,’ and, ‘In their hands they shall bear you up, Lest you dash your foot against a stone.’ ” Jesus said to him, “It is written again, ‘You shall not tempt the Lord your God.’ ””

Satan didn’t just throw a lie out to Jesus. He came to Him with a truth.

It is also written. Jesus had a greater truth.

You don’t have to let a truth define you if there is a greater truth that sets you free!

Romans 3:23 “for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,”

1 Corinthians 6:9–11 NKJV

Do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived. Neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor homosexuals, nor sodomites, nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners will inherit the kingdom of God. And such were some of you. But you were washed, but you were sanctified, but you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus and by the Spirit of our God.

Some of you need to stop seeing yourself through the eyes of your failure. You are lying to yourself.

You are in the verse that says you were, but you are living like you are!

You need to find your greater truth!

In the natural Goliath was bigger, stronger and more experienced!

But David had a greater truth! His God was bigger than Goliath!

Joshua and Caleb went out with the spies to examine the promised land. The truth of the situation that the other men brought back was that there were giants in the land. Their cities were fortresses. They were like grasshoppers compared to them.

Numbers 13:33 “There we saw the giants (the descendants of Anak came from the giants); and we were like grasshoppers in our own sight, and so we were in their sight.””

Some times we have a truth about ourselves that is based on a truth of how others see us. If we don’t know who we are, we will let others define us. We will try to live under the expectations and control of other people and who they want us to be or who they tell us to be.

Joshua and Caleb had a greater truth though! They believed that If God brought them to this place that God could bring them through it in order to possess it.

What is God trying to get you through in order for you to possess it?

2 Corinthians 4:7–13 NKJV

But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellence of the power may be of God and not of us. We are hard-pressed on every side, yet not crushed; we are perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed—always carrying about in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus, that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our body. For we who live are always delivered to death for Jesus’ sake, that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our mortal flesh. So then death is working in us, but life in you. And since we have the same spirit of faith, according to what is written, “I believed and therefore I spoke,” we also believe and therefore speak,

earthen vessels- plan ordinary but housed land deeds and wills

truth- greater truth

Hard pressed- (Greater Truth) NOT CRUSHED

Perplexed- (GT) NOT IN DESPAIR

Persecuted- (GT) NOT FORSAKEN

Struck down- (GT) NOT DESTROYED

Believe and speak the Greater Truth!!!

Stop lying to yourself. Let Holy Spirit reveal the ugly truth in order for you to receive the greater truth!

You can’t walk in the Greater Truth if you are lying to yourself about the truth of your circumstances or of where you are!

John 8:31-59

John 8:31–59 NKJV

Then Jesus said to those Jews who believed Him, “If you abide in My word, you are My disciples indeed. And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.” They answered Him, “We are Abraham’s descendants, and have never been in bondage to anyone. How can You say, ‘You will be made free’?” Jesus answered them, “Most assuredly, I say to you, whoever commits sin is a slave of sin. And a slave does not abide in the house forever, but a son abides forever. Therefore if the Son makes you free, you shall be free indeed. “I know that you are Abraham’s descendants, but you seek to kill Me, because My word has no place in you. I speak what I have seen with My Father, and you do what you have seen with your father.” They answered and said to Him, “Abraham is our father.” Jesus said to them, “If you were Abraham’s children, you would do the works of Abraham. But now you seek to kill Me, a Man who has told you the truth which I heard from God. Abraham did not do this. You do the deeds of your father.” Then they said to Him, “We were not born of fornication; we have one Father—God.” Jesus said to them, “If God were your Father, you would love Me, for I proceeded forth and came from God; nor have I come of Myself, but He sent Me. Why do you not understand My speech? Because you are not able to listen to My word. You are of your father the devil, and the desires of your father you want to do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaks a lie, he speaks from his own resources, for he is a liar and the father of it. But because I tell the truth, you do not believe Me. Which of you convicts Me of sin? And if I tell the truth, why do you not believe Me? He who is of God hears God’s words; therefore you do not hear, because you are not of God.” Then the Jews answered and said to Him, “Do we not say rightly that You are a Samaritan and have a demon?” Jesus answered, “I do not have a demon; but I honor My Father, and you dishonor Me. And I do not seek My own glory; there is One who seeks and judges. Most assuredly, I say to you, if anyone keeps My word he shall never see death.” Then the Jews said to Him, “Now we know that You have a demon! Abraham is dead, and the prophets; and You say, ‘If anyone keeps My word he shall never taste death.’ Are You greater than our father Abraham, who is dead? And the prophets are dead. Who do You make Yourself out to be?” Jesus answered, “If I honor Myself, My honor is nothing. It is My Father who honors Me, of whom you say that He is your God. Yet you have not known Him, but I know Him. And if I say, ‘I do not know Him,’ I shall be a liar like you; but I do know Him and keep His word. Your father Abraham rejoiced to see My day, and he saw it and was glad.” Then the Jews said to Him, “You are not yet fifty years old, and have You seen Abraham?” Jesus said to them, “Most assuredly, I say to you, before Abraham was, I AM.” Then they took up stones to throw at Him; but Jesus hid Himself and went out of the temple, going through the midst of them, and so passed by.

Jesus is THE greater truth!

Knowing Him and knowing who we are in Him trumps any past, current or future truth that doesn’t align with the greater truth!

Colossians 3:1-3 “If then you were raised with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ is, sitting at the right hand of God. Set your mind on things above, not on things on the earth. For you died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God.”

Seek the Greater Truth!